I have had issues with SGK for years now, but not for many of the reasons that have been spoken of as of late. I am thankful for the public relations disaster that has thrust this giant under the microscope.
My views of SGK changed after walking into one of my favorite beauty supply stores several years ago and seeing a sea of pink beauty and grooming cans, tubes and bottles. - Products that I know contain ingredients that many, besides myself, believe may actually contribute to the very cancer that this organization represents.
Susan G Komen has even had their own perfume come under scrutiny!
Wearing a pink ribbon (for breast cancer awareness) is one thing. Walking for a Cure is a wonderful concept, donating to organizations that help women with cancer, fantastic. But hold ON! The evidence is simply too damning in regard to pinkwashing in the beauty industry.
The SGK fiasco this past week brought much needed attention to this organization and I simply must continue my quest to help clean up the beauty industry that I am a part of.
So please, Think Before You Pink.
Also, please keep an open mind and see this movie when it is released: Pink Ribbons.
We all have some experience with this cancer. We know or know of someone who has battled it.
Personally, I have experienced the fear of finding a lump and waiting far too long to have a doctor examine me because I was just too afraid to make that appointment.
I have sat in a waiting room with other women who were waiting to be examined because they had all found a lump too. I remember seeing a woman who was much younger than myself - one who was very pregnant and there with her partner and the fear on her face......It made me sick. I remember sitting there and thinking how unfair it was because she was pregnant and I had already had two healthy babies and how can she possibly go through all of this at this time in her life!
I have had my breasts squished between the plates of a mammogram machine and wondered how on earth they could actually recover from that process! (I don't know how breasts can possibly be "flattened" in that fashion and ever return to their normal state!) If it wasn't such a horrible experience to go through at the time, it would actually be funny.
I have experienced a lumpectomy and then at the end of my ordeal, finally burst into tears when told it was benign.
I have shaved the head of a brave woman going through chemotherapy and then cried silently as she described to me about how she woke up that morning with clumps of hair in her bed - (she spoke of it so matter-of-factly.) During that same visit, we also shared other banter we hairdressers have with our clients - (how odd that seemed to me). How can she behave so normally I wondered? I hugged her once she was aware of my tears because I felt ashamed for crying and for not being as strong as she was.
So many of us have such strong opinions of the events of this past week. That's important. Keep it up. Passion drives change.
I am blessed that all of the women that I have known with breast cancer (4 of them), are alive and well.
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